Examining the impact of federally-funded syphilis elimination activities in the USA.
In 1999, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a national syphilis elimination plan. Using state-level syphilis incidence data from 1997 to 2005, we found that greater amounts of state-level funding for syphilis elimination in a given year were associated with lower state-level syphilis rates in subsequent years. The findings suggest that federally-funded syphilis elimination activities are having a notable impact on syphilis rates. The recent increases in syphilis in the United States might have been much more pronounced had there been no syphilis elimination activities.
Chesson
Harrell
H
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA. hbc7@cdc.gov
Owusu-Edusei
Kwame
K
D000293:Adolescent; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D005260:Female; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000639:trends*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011634:Public Health; D013587:Syphilis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult